Papa Joe's Waterfront — Restaurant in Islamorada

I have been to papa Joes multiple times over the last few years, most of the time the service and the food has been great. Multiple generations of my family have been coming to islamorada for almost 30 years on a yearly basis. Unfortunately today completely changed my mind about ever visiting this establishment again. I almost never explain. I am a 30 year old in the medical field, who understands the burn out and exhaustion of working with the public and having a customer based business. When I approached the counter to order a drink from the downstairs tiki bar, I ordered with a younger guy at the computer, and as I was ordering with him, a short blonde kid maybe about 20, came up to the computer and overtook the kid standing at the computer. Mumbled something about this beer being the same as the draft beer I ordered said he needed my card to open a tab and handed me a can. I took my card back and sat at a table looking at my can and seeing it was an American lager called go fish. When the draft beer I ordered was a drunken pelican which from a quick google search is an IPA, also not in a can. I went up to the counter and said I’m pretty sure I ordered a draft beer that was called a drunken pelican. the original kid I tried to order with said your right, I can get you a the correct beer from upstairs don’t worry about it. When the the blonde kid came back up to me and said no I promise it’s the same thing as a drunken pelican so I held up the can and pointed to him and said how is this the same, and he said because it is. So I asked for a manager very calmly. and when he went to get the manager, I said to the kid who was at the computer I’m not sure why he’s talking to me like I’m stupid. But I can clearly read on the can this says go fish lager on a can, and I ordered a draft beer called drunken pelican. Am I wrong and he said no, I will get you the draft beer. He was super nice and professional. Fast forward 5 minutes later the manager comes down with the correct draft beer. Walks up to me and says I have the correct draft beer for you but I heard you came up to the bar with a little cussing so I’ll just give you the beer and we can call it even. This never happened and is totally unprofessional for the manager to come out like that. Especially when one of your employees is trying to lie and manipulate me into a beer that I never asked for. As I’m telling the manager about the events. The same server who offered me the incorrect beer was antagonizing the situation from behind the manager, Yelling from the back ground it’s the same thing, I didn’t give you the wrong beer. to which the manager had to dismiss from the area because he kept interjecting between my conversation while trying to explain the situation. I told your manager I didn’t want the correct beer after all the BS I had experienced at the counter within a 10 minute period. So he refunded my card and I walked away. As I was leaving I had stated how it was my Wife’s birthday and now turned into a pretty crappy day to which your “manager” turned around to me and said “well isn’t that supposed to be a good thing.” Which I again felt was dismissing to the horrible experience we had. Funny part is we started up at the tiki bar and spent about 100$ enjoying our time but wanted to give more customers the stools to experience your view so figured we’d finish off downstairs. I didn’t catch the names of your employees since I was actually so taken back by both of their behaviors. For reference this occurred on 5/15 between 12:20 and 12:40 Your manager had black hair and a beard in a patterned shirt and the kid who tried to lie to me about my beer had dirty blonde shorter shaggy hair and was very young and obviously immature. The other kid downstairs at the tiki bar was extremely professional and handled the whole thing well.

Photos attached Drunken pelican draft Go fish lager (can is rebranded)

Feels like a big fat excuse for poor...

This is a relatively new restaurant on Upper Matecumbe Key (part of the Islamorada Village of Islands) that was still under construction the last time my wife and I visited the area in December 2023. We did an initial noontime visit to the outside elevated Tiki Bar on July 17, 2025 and had a walk around the property and a friendly conversation with the outside bar staff. We were impressed enough to come back that evening around 5:00 pm for dinner. The original property here was simply called Papa Joe's (built back in the early 1940s) and it had a long and storied history as an "Old Florida" style fish house and pub. It was frequented by many wealthy and/or famous fisherman like Ted Williams of Boston Red Sox fame. It started to structurally decay during the 1980s, suffered major damage from several bad Hurricanes in the early and mid 2010-20 decades, and eventually went out of business despite several changes in ownership. The property it sits on was bought out, but the new owners rebuilt a very modern and hurricane resilient restaurant property in place of the old torn-down legacy buildings, and they did a very nice job of it. All of the seawalls were redone, new docks were put in, the new main restaurant building has three stories with floor to ceiling hurricane impact-rated windows and is built to the highest quality construction standards. The outside elevated Tiki Bar has a fantastic view of both the Florida Bay and Atlantic Ocean, as well as the beautiful private island of Tea Table Key and the legendary Bud & Mary's Marina (directly across the road). There are also several Cornhole game setups on the outdoor patio below the second story (elevated) restaurant and outside Tiki Bar and some ping pong tables under the building as well. A family with elementary or middle school aged kids could spend an afternoon here and have a great time, and there is free dock space available for about 15 boats along the west and south seawalls if you decide to come by boat. Our dinner was also very good and included freshly caught Yellow Tail snapper entrees, one prepared Oscar Style (with crab meat) and the other with an Almond and Coconut Crust. They were premium priced at $52.00 and $44.00 respectively, which I thought was a bit high for what is a modern but still casually decorated restaurant. Both entrees tasted delicious, and our server was polite and attentive. The restaurant was only about 1/4 occupied during the evening we dined there (a Thursday night during the slow summer season). My only "gripe" was that the music playing inside the restaurant and outside at the Tiki Bar was a bit loud and it was all modern country music. It seemed like the playlist, was geared toward pleasing the young staff working that afternoon and evening instead of the patrons who were there to spend money on food and drinks. I think smooth Carribean-style jazz, mild Reggae, mild Rhumba or any Jimmy Buffett music playlist would much better match the tropical venue here and make it more fitting to the tourists who are the primary clientele. Prices were also a bit on the high side and seemed like they'd be more appropriate in a candlelit dark dining room like you'd find at a big city steakhouse frequented by big-spender businessmen. Also, the pre-dinner cocktails we ordered, a Kettle One vodka soda, and a Maker's Mark Manhattan were priced at $13.00 and $16.00 respectively. That said, if you are budget conscious, or if you have a family or a large group to feed and you are picking up the tab, this place will probably be on the highly stretched part of your budget limit. We will probably go here again during a future visit to Islamorada, but the next time we'll probably just eat appetizers outside at the Tiki Bar instead of dining inside in the somewhat noisy and somewhat overpriced...

One constants of the Florida Keys is that it’s peppered by countless seafood restaurants and eateries. If there were such a measure as GPM or goodness per minute, owner Charles Hertel’s Papa Joe’s would outrank any of its high rated peers. Papa Joe’s is not your typical beach seafood destination, Islamorada has plenty of those. Papa Joe’s is mixing extraordinary fresh local chef creations, a 21+ Tiki Bar, elegant dining, ocean and bay views, family friendly lawn into an experience you won’t soon forget. With a foundation established in 1938, Charles and team reopened Papa Joe’s waterfront in 2024. Surrounding himself with an extraordinary team and Chefs that are second to none.

Papa Joe’s does not take reservations. They operate on a first come first serve basis, but that’s not entirely a bad thing. There’s plenty to do while you wait, sipping on a drink at the tiki bar, playing lawn games, enjoying the beautiful waterfront views or have a friendly conversation with someone else who’s made the pilgrimage to enjoy an evening here. We started with the Season’s Harvest Burrata Salad. A bowl of exceptional freshness with local strawberries, fresh spinach and heavenly Burrata. Each of us got the Fresh Seafood Entree. The mahi-mahi with the plantain crust and the grouper with a coconut almond crust. Both were perfectly prepared and smartly, plated. The portion sizes are far more than you would expect. One of the things you’ll do while your meal is being prepared, is to look at all the extraordinary meals coming out of the kitchen. You’ll find yourself asking, what was that?!! We returned two days later for lunch. The menu is different with some of the dinner offerings. We started with the Smoked Fish Dip “The Locals Way”. We had to have another seasonal Burrata salad. We shared the Classic Style Keys Fish Sandwich. The sandwich comes out blackened, with tomato, remolade sauce and stuffed into toasted wheat bread. One thing you will discover about Papas is that the fresh ingredients and fresh catch clearly weren’t unloaded off a Sysco truck. Charles insists these items are sourced locally. Make your way to Papa Joe’s soon. Once you’ve experienced the reimagined Papa Joe’s, you’ll feel like you’ve found $100 in an old...